> You're looking in the wrong place on this.> > There's one correlating factor for both platforms that doesn't show up on the others> so much-- ease of piracy.> > Both PS1 (and PS2 initially) required semi-expensive and difficult hardware> modification that not everyone could do easily. The soldering, especially on PS2,> would be very delicate work.> > On the other hand, Dreamcast piracy was so easy a 12-year-old could do it without> assistance. Download ISO, burn in appropriate tool. Same goes with PSP-- download> custom firmware, install it by the instructions, download and install ISO to> memstick.> > With piracy that easy, most people said, "Why buy something I can get for free?" and> stopped buying games on that platform. Nintendo's having some major issues with that> on the DS side now as well. It's also very true on PC-- the easier it is to pirate,> the more likely people will take the easy and cheap way out.

As I was poorly eluding to in my last post... 2 points:

1 - Make your paid experience easier and more convenient that a pirated one. If piracy looks, or is even perceived as being a bigger pain in the ass people won't do it. Those that can pay, will. Those that can't pay, well, wouldn't have anyway. Steam models this nicely.

2 - Give people something more. Wii example. If the virtual catalog was more expansive I would have bought one years ago. I knew at the time I could load older games into it myself but didn't want the hassle, so I didn't even buy one. The available titles on their own weren't enough to justify the buy. They still might not be. If I do buy one and the back catalog still sucks, I'd probably pirate games. If it doesn't suck, I'll buy them. They could possibly deter me from pirating further games by giving me more. Give me the ability to play mario cart over the net. Give me the ability to transfer my wii bowling character to my neighbors box. give m e the ability to load an original Super Mario Brothers save state on his box.

I know I'm rambling/wandering a bit at this late hour, but I just don't buy this argument. Put out a better product than the free version offers, and paying customers will pay. Those still pirating weren't going to buy it anyway. They are insignificant, they were never a sale. I think we greatly blur the lines between "stolen sale" and just plain "stolen". They aren't the same in a digital world.